Fluttershy's Cottage
by LunarStar Princess Krystal
Summary: Has anyone ever wondered how Fluttershy got the cottage she lives in? Well on her birthday five young fillies are going to find out from the shy Pegasus and learn about a special Unicorn that has a lingering presence over all of Ponyville.
1. Chapter 1

Fluttershy's Cottage

Chapter 1

By LunarStar Princess Krystal

Author Note: I want to start this off by saying thank you to the many authors and stories that have inspired me. Ok disclaimer time, I do not own My Little Pony that honor belongs to Hasbro. The only part of this story that I do own are the characters Grandpa Haku, Artie Choke (he'll appear in another chapter), my perspective of the Equestrian universe, and the storyline. Now that has been taken care of on with the story.

"Hey Lyra, Bon-Bon, please move the banner to the other side. Carrot Top you and Berry Punch misspelled the message take it down. If you two take it to the Mayor she can help fix the mistake," a particular pink earth pony was instructing as she made her rounds in Ponyville. Overhead the sun was shining brightly and not a single dark cloud could be seen in the sky, although it looked as though someone with the bearer of generosity's creative side was having fun making shapes with the fluffy white clouds that hung in the sky. At the sight of the sky the pink earth pony called out, "Hey Rainbow Dash your weather team did a great job. Didn't I tell you that all you needed was …"

However before she could continue talking a rainbow maned Pegasus flew down interrupting her friend with, "I know, I know! Give it a rest Pinkie Pie you already got the whole town working hard, especially the weather team and me. I'm shocked that you haven't bothered Celestia and Luna to get the sun and moon in particular parts of the sky."

"Oh Rainbow Dash, that's just silly. I'm just making certain that everything is perfect today. I don't need to tell the celestial sisters what to do," Pinkie Pie replied before hopping over to where another of her friends, a purple maned Unicorn, was levitating into place decorations to dress up the Carousel Boutique. Pinkie Pie's face lit up in delight at the sight of all of the decorations and says, "Rarity that looks really good. I'm really impressed that you were able to make all of the decorations I asked you to make. You even did them in the exact colors I asked for."

The Unicorn, Rarity turned to her excited friend with a smile of her own. Rarity shook her head before replying, "Why thank you darling. It did take me some time to get the exact materials that you asked me to use. Although I must say that the decorations just look magnificent."

The information didn't seem to surprise the excitable Pinkie Pie, who shook her head, as though she knew what her friend was about to say. "I know that it was not going to be easy, but when it comes to being creative you are the best pony for the job. Everypony knows that and besides the party that I'm putting together today needs to be even better than the one I threw last year. It just has to be otherwise I will have failed."

"Why darling you don't have to be so hard on yourself. Last year's party was amazing and you've been preparing this year's party for a long time. I have no doubt that this year will be utterly charming."

"But it has to be even better than just charming. It needs to be even more special than anything else. It just has to! I don't want to make today a disaster," Pinkie Pie replied looking as though she was about to fall apart crying for an unexplained reason causing Rarity to put a hoof around her friend's shoulder to give a small hug.

Suddenly a purple alicorn trotted over asking, "Pinkie you don't have to worry about today being a disaster. We all know that she is going to love this party and I can't remember you ever failing to make anypony happy on their birthday. Although we did have to be careful about making sure that your birthday was a very happy one after you thought that we all were trying to make a farewell party instead of a birthday one."

Both Pinkie Pie and Rarity looked at their good friend Twilight whom Pinkie jumped over to hug while saying, "I know that I was really silly last year Twilight, but I need to make up for being such a pushy meany pants the other day when we were trying to take care of the bat problem. I really want to make certain that both the birthday Pegasus and the one whom I don't want upset with me not making today the best party ever for her. _He_ would have really wanted today to be a happy day and not a sad blue make us want to cry day."

Twilight and Rarity gave each other a look before the alicorn asked, "How would anyone want to cry after you've been so careful about making every detail perfect and all of the party guests brought to town just to make today very special? I don't think that you've forgotten anything, but who else are you talking about? I don't understand what you are trying to say."

To this Pinkie Pie just shook her head saying, "I can't say his name, not yet. It's somepony very special to our special friend and I just can't stop thinking about how much _he_ means to our friend and to all the ponies that he helped. He even helped me when I first arrived, but that's something we can discus later. I need to make certain that everypony is getting their part completed."

"Pinkie you can take a break you know. It wouldn't hurt to stop and let yourself maybe pull back on how much you're stressing on the details of every little part of today. I mean you have everypony in Ponyville, Zecora, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders working on some missions today. You won't even tell us what you are planning to have the fillies do for you today, it isn't that we don't trust your judgment, but what are you planning? You can talk to us," Twilight asked looking very concerned and Rarity began to share the same look at the mention of the crusaders who were known to cause some trouble, but were willing to help if there was a chance to find their cutie mark.

Rarity began to look scared as she said, "I must agree with Twilight darling. Sweetie Belle wouldn't stop talking about how excited she is to have a new mission now that the group has grown with Babs Seed and Twist joining the trio. Pinkie could you please just give us some clue as to what you asked the fillies to do today? The girls met up earlier today and are more than likely on their way out of Ponyville right now. Please understand that we are just worried that something may not go as you plan and we would like to be able to make a backup plan in case something happens."

Pinkie Pie just smiled as she shook her head saying, "I can't tell either of you exactly what is going on, but I can say that the fillies are going to help keep an eye on our pony of the day and do what they do best. I'm glad that the girls are already on their way and excited to help me out today which will make everything a lot easier. Besides if anything does happen I already have one of the guests already helping me with anything that may need any extra attention. Even Zecora is giving me a hoof with some of the plans that I need her assistance on. I have backup plans for my backup plans and more backup plans to cover those backup plans. Now that I've stopped to chat I need to get back to work with checking on the arrangements that are already underway."

At her words both Twilight and Rarity couldn't stop their worry from showing, but they had learned to trust Pinkie Pie when she said that she knew what she was doing. Pinkie hopped her way across the street where she began talking quickly to a couple of ponies about the banner's that were being repositioned to suit her plans.

In another part of town the Cutie Mark Crusaders were all running around the adult ponies who were getting the food stands prepared for the party to take place later that day. The quintet ran as fast as their little hooves could carry them with their signature crusader capes billowing in the wind. The Cakes smiled to each other and as Granny Smith made her way over to the couple said, "It's really nice to see young ones this excited. It brings back memories of another group of fillies making their way towards the cottage years ago."

Both of the Cakes nodded their heads at the elder pony. Everypony in the area began to smile as they heard the young group call out, "Cutie Mark Crusaders masters of distraction and best friends forever." The adults nodded their heads before getting back to work on their projects or by working on their everyday jobs because Pinkie Pie had asked that some of the residents do their everyday jobs and make Ponyville look like nothing special was being planned.

On the road towards the home of the Pegasus of the day Apple Bloom cheered, "I can't believe that we were given such an important job today. This is so amazing."

This caused the other four to all have big grins appear on their faces as Sweetie Belle replied, "This is going to be so much fun. I don't know what we can do to be distractions because I don't think that we are distractions for anyone, but we will do our best right."

"Of course we will and with our newest member of the team we will be unstoppable. Hey look over there, we're already at the cottage. I wonder what we should do now, maybe we should…," Before Apple Bloom could finish her thoughts, Scootaloo and Twist pulled the other three fillies behind a tree motioning towards the cottage where a yellow Pegasus was exiting the building quietly singing with some of the birds that were flying around the front of the home. Scootaloo and Twist looked around the base of their hiding spot worried that the group had been seen, but thankfully their target wasn't even looking in their direction.

Once the pair finished looking around Twist whispered, "Maybe we should watch and see what she does before we do anything. Besides it looks like she is feeding the animals now. I think that we should let her finish what she's doing before we approach her."

The yellow Pegasus gave a smile towards the birds and started singing along with the birds a tune that the fillies didn't recognize. However though she was smiling the fillies noticed that she looked as though her mind was far away even though she was being careful about how much or what type of food she passed out. The moment the birds stopped singing to start on their breakfast a small smile began to form on her face but it didn't reach her eyes.

Even from a distance the five fillies could see that just as the Pegasus was preparing a large tray of a large amount of different types of foods for the rest of hungry critters of the area, a small bunny jumped onto her back. The bunny held a few white flowers in his mouth, but was extra careful not to break the steams. Her smile seemed to change to a happier one, although her eyes continued to not look as happy. The bunny appeared to notice as he placed his offering of flowers onto her back next to where he stood and gave a worried look as his foot began to repeatedly tap in a questioning manner. However the Pegasus shook her head before saying, "Thanks Angel, I will add these to the bouquet I'm going to buy in Ponyville. Please don't worry. Go ahead and eat."

The moment she finished talking she motioned toward a large carrot she had placed on the large tray of food. The bunny, Angel, gave a sad smile as he hugged the Pegasus around the neck before jumping down to grab the carrot for himself. The action was very confusing to the crusaders but at the mention of going into town they realized that they needed to do something. Just as she turned away to watch the animals eating the five fillies quietly left their hiding place with as little noise as possible to not be noticed. Once they were close enough to the fence around the Pegasus animal caretaker's home, they called out loudly, "Fluttershy!" The call caused the yellow Pegasus to turn around in surprise before waving happily in greeting.

When the quintet were within the fenced area, Fluttershy said, "Oh my, it's so nice to see all of you, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Babs, and Twist. Wow it's really wonderful to see all of you here. Babs are you here visiting family again?"

The group smiled at each other at the same time that Babs gave a nod as she replied, "Yes I am. And I'm here to be the Manehattan representative of the Cutie Mark Crusader branch to welcome our newest Ponyville member Twist."

At this, Twist began to go a little pink as she rubbed a hoof against her left foreleg. As she turned away she whispered, "It's not much. It's really nice that they allowed me to join the group. I've even promised to help give cooking lessons so the others can try to get a cutie mark in baking of some kind."

Fluttershy just smiled at this before Scootaloo jumped in with a hearty, "Its more than nothing. It's a really brave act especially after three of us nearly made the whole town sick with that horribly dreadful batch of muffins." This comment made both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom groan at the memory as the other two crusaders chuckled.

Once the chuckling pair calmed down, Fluttershy led the group into her cottage as she carried the flowers Angel had given her. All five of the fillies looked around to find some ideas to distract Fluttershy, but Babs couldn't stop her gaze from drifting towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Finally when she couldn't take it anymore she stepped forward asking, "I need to ask you something Fluttershy because this is something that has confused me for a while, but why do you live by the Everfree Forest? That's a really brave thing to do and you're one of the shyest ponies I know."

The four Ponyville crusaders turned to stare at Babs as though she'd grown another head as Fluttershy jumped from the direct question she'd been asked. However before she could answer, Twist jumped into the conversation by saying, "I've been wondering that too, but I was wondering how you were able to get this home when many of the adult Pegasi live in cloud homes or back in Cloudsdale."

Fluttershy's shock from all of the questions made a sad look, cross her face again. As she turned away from the fillies, Sweetie Belle noticed in the direction Fluttershy was facing hung a photo of a young Fluttershy with an elder white Unicorn stallion the young filly had never seen in Ponyville before. Sweetie Belle pointed at the photo to direct the attention of the others before slowly approaching the picture. Just when she was within Fluttershy's line of sight the young Unicorn asked, "Is that somepony from your family? He looks like a very interesting stallion. I don't think that I've ever seen him before or anypony like him."

This snapped Fluttershy back to the present as she placed the flowers on the table and then answered, "Actually he's the reason I live here. He's not a direct relative, but before he died I felt as though he was my grandfather. He was one of the bravest ponys I know even more than Rainbow Dash." Hearing this all five of the crusaders eyes grew wide with curiosity and excitement for the story. Even Scootaloo looked excited although she whispered in a slightly grumpy voice, "I doubt that anypony is braver than Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy gave a warm smile to the fillies motioning them to take a seat on her couch as she sat in her favorite chair saying, "I guess that I can wait on going into town to share the story of how I came to own this cottage and meet the Unicorn who was a master of writing haiku, but was the one I came to call Grandpa Haku."

Author Note: Wow, this was nine pages, but in the future some of the following chapters will be a bit longer so I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you think, but please don't send any flames because I will pass them on to be the materials for the cutie mark crusader's next art project.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

From out of the shadows a mysterious male voice says: LunarStar Princess Krystal is unable to do the opening note today so I will be doing so for her. LunarStar Princess Krystal does not own My Little Pony that honor belongs to Hasbro. The only part of this story that she owns are the characters Grandpa Haku, Artie Choke (he'll make a grand appear in the next chapter), her perspective of the Equestrian universe, the storyline, and a number of other original characters that will slowly be appearing throughout the story. Including myself, but I will not say who or what I am until later on. *Mysterious voice gives a small chuckle* Oh and just to clear any confusion the lines spoken will have "lines" and the thoughts of characters will have [thoughts]. Now that has been taken care of it's time for a recap of the last chapter.

Recap: Pinkie Pie is preparing a large birthday celebration and has the CMC as the distraction to keep Fluttershy preoccupied for the day. After the five fillies start asking a multitude of questions, Fluttershy decides to tell the story of how she came to own the cottage and a tale of a special Unicorn she knew.

A young Fluttershy was sitting on the grass talking with some of her new animal friends. She'd just gained her cutie mark and had seen an amazing sight in the sky. It was a strange disturbance with an odd rainbow later to be known as a Sonic Rainboom. The remains of it had died down moments before a flock of different colored butterflies and birds lazily flew around the Pegasus's head. For the first time since joining the flight camp, the filly felt comfortable and relaxed in her surroundings. She couldn't see any signs of Cloudsdale or the big race between the bully colts and her friend, Rainbow Dash, far above in the sky.

Fluttershy's smile grew as a mouse brought her a small yellow flower. "Thank you Miss Mousy, that was very nice of you. I can't believe that I never knew about how wonderful it is down on the ground. Maybe I can…," Fluttershy began to say, but stopped as a tall nearly all ivory colored Unicorn stallion with two faded light pink streaks in his mane and tail appeared. However the stallion didn't acknowledge the presence of the critters or the young Pegasus. It seemed as though his attention was strictly focused on a single space in the menacing looking forest of trees. The birds and butterflies stopped in their flight to land near the filly causing her to look up in surprise before turning her attention back to the stallion whose cutie mark was oddly glowing making it hard to see what the picture looked like.

Just as Fluttershy was about to greet the mysterious fellow, a loud roar was heard. The ground began to shake and a large flock of unusual birds looking as though something had scared them flew over the forest. The only being to look unfazed by the sound or earthquake was the stallion whose eyes never strayed from the single spot in the forest. It appeared as though something was making its way through the trees before a chorus of howls from a group of possibly even scarier beasts was heard.

At the possibility of a great many monsters, Fluttershy began shaking, eyes wide as though she was stuck in a nightmare. Small whimpers escaped from the filly as she began to cover her head. "No, please, not again. Please don't yell at me. I have my cutie mark. I'm not useless. Maybe I was wrong and I should never have come here," Fluttershy cried into her hooves.

Just as she was about to give into fear an unfamiliar male voice said, "Please do not be afraid. I'm here to help."

The voice was not yelling nor menacing like the sounds escaping the forest. The soothing words helped the filly calm down enough to uncover her head to find out who was speaking. All of the little critters were watching the older pony who hadn't moved from where he stood. Fluttershy's eyes didn't leave the stallion as the roars and howls began to get louder. Whomever or whatever was making the sound was approaching the clearing.

Suddenly a large beast leapt out of the forest, landing directly in front of the Unicorn. Fluttershy's brain started screaming at her to fly away, but for some reason even at the sight of the large lion with bat ears and wings and a scorpion tail couldn't make her want to leave even as her wings clung to her body. It was almost like the Unicorn had cast a spell to keep her and the beast from doing anything.

"Please be calm. There is no need to be afraid," the stallion said as though he knew what the filly was feeling. However behind the beast, a tiny version minus the mane was chased out of the forest by large canine shaped beings made out of branches and leaves. For some reason the canines refused to leave the boundary of the forest even as they eyed the little creature hungrily.

Fluttershy was about to say something, but jumped when she noticed that each time the wooden dogs looked at the Unicorn they began to move around appearing uncomfortable in his presence. It seemed as though they were scared for some unknown reason. As she turned her attention back to the stallion and the unusual being that she realized was turning its head from one side to another. Looking closer she noticed an odd forest green and ocean blue colored fabric that appeared to oddly look like it was a streamer wrapped around the head of the creature. The streamer looked as though it was completely covering the eyes.

Suddenly the stallion reached a hoof out to the creature saying "Please stay still mighty manticore, Sir Nicholas Heart, I will take away what has covered your eyes." The manticore, Sir Nicholas, stopped his movements as the Unicorn pulled the streamer off revealing a pair of large unsettled feline eyes. "I can't believe that streamer could cause so much trouble after Artie promised to be careful with his experiments."

Fluttershy could only stare in awe as the Unicorn stood his ground and wasn't even afraid of any of the large wooden dogs or of Sir Nicholas. Fluttershy looked at the critters she'd met, seeing calm expressions and looks of curiosity directed towards the Unicorn. He was like the brave hero coming to the rescue in one of her favorite bed time stories. "Wow, he's amazing," the filly whispered to herself.

Sir Nicholas's attention focused on the male pony who held the streamer. It was almost like the pair was sharing a private conversation. Seeing this made Fluttershy wonder, [What is going to happen now? Is the manticore going to attack or do something else?]

Just as she moved her head to try to get a better view, Sir Nicholas raised a paw then lowered it to show the stallion the underside which had a large thorn poking the velvety looking part. The stallion's eyes became soft as he said, "So this is the other reason you were so upset. You got a big splinter in your paw when trying to help your son, Manny Roar, from the pack of Timberwolves. You are a great manticore. Once more let me help you, please."

Without another word verbally spoken in response, the Unicorn swiftly bit down on the thorn and pulled it out of Sir Nicholas's paw allowing a bit of blood to escape the injury. This caused the young manticore, Manny Roar, to mew in concern. However the Unicorn only spat the thorn out before using the large streamer as a makeshift bandage. "This should help keep your paw from giving you any more trouble. I'd suggest you leave this on for a while. Don't worry about anything my friend. I'll go talk to Artie about being more careful with where he leaves the aftermath of his experiments so you should be safe from streamers catching you again. In the future I'd be more careful with how you fight those foolish wolves."

His words earned a kind, toothy grin from Sir Nicholas before the manticore turned towards Manny Roar who could only stare at the elder one with large concerned eyes. Fluttershy began to smile as the manticores drew closer to one another while the pack of Timberwolves ran back into the shadows of the forest. Once Sir Nicholas was close to Manny, the elder manticore gently bit the young one's neck before placing Manny onto his back between his wings. The sight made every creature and pony in the area smile, before the elder let out a loud roar. This time the roar was not as scary as the previous ones heard when Sir Nicholas was on his rampage, but strong enough to make the ground rumble in response.

Suddenly the large bat wings spread out and without a sound Sir Nicholas jumped into the air allowing a small breeze to help him start to glide over the trees as the manticores returned back to their home. The younger mewed loudly in his happiness of being above the tree tops and not having to fear for their lives.

Seeing this made Fluttershy very happy that everything had gone well for everypony. Nopony had been hurt during the interaction and the stallion was so brave as he helped out the manticore that it made the young Pegasus want to be just like him. A courageous and very helpful pony that could help any kind of creature no matter what they were, except for dragons because they're large scary beings. Just the thought of them made a chill run down the filly's spin. Once the pair were out of sight, the stallion's cutie mark stopped glowing allowing the young filly to see two hearts on either side of a horn similar to the one on the Unicorn's head, but this one looked as though tiny rays of light was being produced from the horn reaching out to touch the hearts.

Fluttershy felt the urge to say something to the amazing champion of critters great and small. Very slowly she began to stand up and try to say something, anything. Except no matter what she tried, no words would form as she opened her muzzle. The only sound that could be heard was a soft squeak. This seemed to make an unexpected echo in the clearing, which made the ears of the stallion nearly jump in alarm. A bit of red began to color the filly's cheeks as the stallion turned around to find out what or whom had been the source of the sound. The moment their eyes met a spark was felt. Unknowingly this ignited the start of a friendship that would make a great impression on everypony in Ponyville.

Krystal: Yay, the chapter is finally finished. I can't believe that I finally finished it.

Fluttershy: Awe, it's okay. You did a really good job. The day I got my cutie mark was a really big day for me and Grandpa.

Krystal: Thanks Flutters. I wish that I could have included more dialogue, but there wasn't anywhere it could be added. *A few tears try to escape my eyes, but I force them back.*

Fluttershy: Don't worry about any of that. I couldn't have said anything even if I wasn't as shy as I am. Oh and I need to warn you about something.

Krystal: What is it Fluttershy? Is there something that you want me to add to this chapter or something that I need to know about for this story?

Fluttershy: Well it's not something that could have been included, but there is a new Pegasus that is going to be introduced in the next chapter and she needs a name.

Krystal: Really? That's amazing. I have an idea. How about letting the readers create a name for her?

Fluttershy: I think that is a great idea. The new Pegasus character is a lady librarian who is a good friend of Artie Choke's and Grandpa Haku's. She is really nice, but there are some times where she and Uncle Artie would argue because of how silly he could act.

Krystal: By the moon and stars, I can't wait for the next chapter, but I wonder who the voice from the beginning of the chapter was. Hey Flutters, do you know who it was?

Fluttershy: *Eyes jump in alarm as a blush is seen on her cheeks before putting her hooves over Krystal's mouth to stop the questions.* We'll pick the name at random and give a shout out to the one who created the name. Please leave a review to tell us what you think, but please don't send any flames because Krystal will use them to make s'mores for the CMC. We look forward to seeing all of you next time. Happy reading.


End file.
